Need to lose 40 lbs~ gradually bridging the gap.

[jayjay]

I am about 45 pounds over my ideal (I'll bargain at a 35lb weightloss, for now), and need to calculate the Ultimate Lifestyle for my healthy weight, and then just>>> PLUG IT IN. I am starting today ! I began the day thinking "Oh heck, I'll just join weightwatchers..." then I decided after reading some threads on this forum, to try something different first. My program is about adhering to the caloric needs to maintain 135lbs at 5'2" and mid 40's, with active lifestyle of hiking most mornings and incorporating riding several days in the week.

If I calculate the calories needed for the *exact* lifestyle I wish to lead (as I have been : 30 to 90 minutes hiking most mornings, and just now beginning to train on my bicycle roughly 1 to 2 hour regular weekly rides at a slow-moderate pace, uphill!), and then figure maintenance calories needed around it. I will then have my base-line Lifestyle Healthy Caloric needs met. I should start losing a lot right away, and eventually it will slowdown, until I bridge the gap, and find the right balance.

In the mean time, I will have gotten a lot of practice for my healthy goal weight and healthy weight lifestyle diet needs, but catered around the whole foods I favor to cook from scratch (including a treat of a little bit of homemade icecream most days (with less fat & less sugar) and a big slice of homemade wholegrain toast some mornings, with a little bit of butter or a little more of peanut butter.)

There seem to be so many diet programs which profit on the dieters adjusting needs as they go, making it very complex and changing, and thus very difficult for many people to adhere to, and the dieter often never even reaches their maintenance lifestyle!

In my thinking , I need to do the shortest line between two points.. then, and now. I need to learn Who, Where, and What that point is. This means I must carefully calculate my caloric needs for the slender me, what I want to eat for breakfasts , lunches and dinners, what treats I want to allow myself daily, what my unreasonable cravings/binges are and how to win over them, what I want to look like, and how I want to live....and then just Do It.

It will be really hard at first, but it will get easier and easier and easier as the gap narrows, and eventually I will reach my goal weight. The best part of such a plan is that when I do reach my healthy weight, I will have had at least a year of maintenance practice !

The question is now... how to figure out my caloric needs for my personal goal lifestyle?